Manson Girl's Movie Updates

Director Susanna Lo tells us that Birch's father/manager, Jack Birch, has caused a ruckus in the production and Thora will pay the price by getting ousted from the much-coveted role of Sandra Good in the film Manson Girls (Lindsay Lohan was once slated to star in the movie, but I think we all know what happened with that). Heather Matarazzo is still on board to play Sadie Atkins."Thora is a great actress," says Lo, "but there have been several problems with her father/manager that make it too difficult to work things out in an ensemble cast situation where everything needs to be balanced and fair to the whole cast. You can quote me on that. On Wednesday, January 5, you will see a fresh Breakdown go out recasting the role of Sandra Good, which Thora was originally set to play."Thanks, Dad!Dad Jack is an ex porn star (he and Birch’s mother, Carol Connors, were both in Deep Throat) and he's a fucking creep, according to accounts of his assholism on the set of Thora's 2008 thriller Winter of Frozen Dreams. He reportedly threatened “kill the assistant directors” and “pull her from the movie with three days of shooting left”. THEN he got her fired on Dec 14th, 2010 from the stage production of Dracula in New York City. She was playing Lucy Westerner. And now? Now she's fired from Manson Girls, which sounded like a perfect vehicle for Birch's downbeat sensuality and intense ability. But Daddy had to screw it up by being a jerkwad.Lo plans to have Birch's replacement by January 24th. Not only is the film supposed to start shooting in February 2011, but Lo will be giving a press conference through Associated Press at the Sundance Film Festival at the Gibson Guitar Lodge on January 24th, where she and the rest of the cast will announce Birch's replacement. The news will be streaming live on the AP Live website, the Warner Brothers Music site and the Gibson Guitar site.

I'm hornier than Ron Jeremy

We're not kidding. Ron Jeremy. And he plays a pornographer.We're following director Susanna Lo's film Manson Girl's, which focuses on Charles Manson's follower Sandra Good, who is played by the talented Thora Birch, quite closely, and the director informs us that two new cast members, the beloved Priscilla Barnes and the crazy Ron Jeremy, are both playing dramatic roles in the biopic.Priscilla Barnes, who horror film fans will recognize from Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects is "Mrs. Atkins", follower Sadie Atkin's mom (did we forget to mention that talented Heather Matarazzo will be playing Sadie Atkins?) and former porn actor Ron Jeremy will be doing a cameo as Van Guyldrl,the director of the porn film The Ramrodder which two Manson followers, Catherine Share (aka "Gypsy") and Bobby Beausoleil, starred in together.

SUSANNA LO INTERVIEWS BILL MOSELEY

Moseley will be playing Charlie in the Manson Girls Movie.

I ran into Bill Moseley, aka Charles Manson in Manson Girls, at the Viscera Film Festival, a festival dedicated to horror films directed by women, where Bill was definitely the hit of the party. We started talking about our upcoming shoot and some of Bill's unique and quirky interpretations of his film roles, violent people versus sexual people and movies in general.

Susanna Lo: Many people seem to view Manson Girls as a horror film. Do you? And if not, what type of film do you believe it is?

Bill Moseley: I'd say Manson Girls is not a horror movie. The characters and situations are certainly horrific, but the movie itself is more a drama.

Susanna Lo: You are a classically trained actor, a Yale Drama graduate, who has given brilliant performances in many films as a character actor. And yet, you are most famous for playing twisted, sinister characters like Otis from Rob Zombie's House of a Thousand Corpses and The Devil's Reject. What is it about you that makes you so good in these bad-guy roles, and do you think Charles Manson, who you will be portraying in Manson Girls, is more than just your average villain?

Bill Moseley: Normally, I'd say that I'm as baffled as you that such a nice guy (me) can play such twisted characters with such authenticity and relish, but I'm hungry now, I'm on the road, there's nothing to eat in my mother-in-law's larder and the monster is beginning to rise! I see Charles Manson as the product of his times, his upbringing, a person endowed with certain people skills, ambitions and insecurities that all mixed together to create the "monster" he became. If you watch some of his interviews on YouTube, you'll see, on the good side, that he's bright, got a sense of humor and poetry in his soul. It's his dark side that scares the hell out of us, and for good reason!

Susanna Lo: If you were given the choice to play the lead hero or the lead villain in a film, both parts equally well-written, which would you prefer and why?

Bill Moseley: I don't really think in those terms, hero vs. villain, etc. When I play "psychos," for instance, my first rule of thumb is to believe that I'm the only sane guy in the room. If the parts were equally well-written and equally well-compensated, I'd probably end up flipping a coin.

Susanna Lo: You will be singing along with The Doobie Brothers on the soundtrack for Manson Girls, doing an original take of The Doors classic, Five to One. Do you have a musical background? And what do you think about having The Doobies and the cast of Manson Girls joining forces to create the film's soundtrack?

Bill Moseley: I've always been a Doors and a Doobies fan, so the opportunity to sing Five to One is as fulfilling as it is exciting. My musical background goes as far back as playing trombone, tuba and sousaphone in my grade school band, piano lessons that went nowhere (especially when I picked up the bongos!) and singing in my prep school choir. I've been in three bands in my life: the Moseley Brothers Band (with brothers Bruce & Dan); Cornbugs (with guitar god Buckethead); and Spider Mountain (with Rani Sharone). I also sang the part of Luigi Largo in the movie Repo! The Genetic Opera with the likes of Sarah Brightman, Paul Sorvino and Paris Hilton, and I've added vocals to albums by Oghr (Devils in my Details), Generichrist and Necrophagia.

Susanna Lo: Manson Girls will be a film more known for its representation of the overt sexuality and the carefree nudity that was an emblem of the 1960's. It’s something that is already causing a lot of controversy with funders and producers who were concerned it would earn a X-rating if shot in the way it is written on page. The film will also downplay the violence and the murders, literally avoiding any depiction of the Tate/LaBianca murders. Why do you think Hollywood and America has so many issues with sex and nudity and seems to turn a blind eye to violence, at times even encouraging violence in films, especially against women?

Bill Moseley: Glad we're finishing with an easy question! I'm kind of Mr. In-Between on this: I've played a number of violent characters, killing both men and women joyfully, indiscriminately, and I'm the father of two girls. Would I rather see violence in a movie or sex? Depends on the day, on my mood. Am I surprised that there's more resistance to a "brazen" depiction of nudity and free love than some psycho murdering women? Not really, that just seems to be a market preference. You'd have to query a social psychologist for the answer to why that is. I don't pretend to know the answer. Sex and violence are both powers, often intertwined, hard to control, impossible to take your eyes off of. And, Charles Manson for a while held both sets of reins and unleashed some real hell on his fellow human beings. We all have these powers. Guess it just comes down to how we use them, enjoy them.